People v. Lane, No. 14119.

CourtSupreme Court of Illinois
Writing for the CourtDUNN
Citation133 N.E. 267,300 Ill. 422
Decision Date22 December 1921
Docket NumberNo. 14119.
PartiesPEOPLE v. LANE.

300 Ill. 422
133 N.E. 267

PEOPLE
v.
LANE.

No. 14119.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 22, 1921.


Error to Circuit Court, St. Clair County; Louis F. Bernreuter, Judge.

Albert Lane and Raymond Titsworth were convicted of murder, and first-named defendant brings error.

Reversed and remanded.


[300 Ill. 422]McCarthy, Morris & Zachritz and Arthur L. Zachritz, all of St. Louis, Mo., and Wilbur E. Krebs, of Belleville, for plaintiff in error.

Edward J. Brundage, Atty. Gen., H. E. Schaumleffel, State's Atty., of Belleville, Edward C. Fitch, Asst. Atty. Gen., and H. C. Lindauer of Belleville, for the People.


DUNN, J.

Albert Lane and Raymond Titsworth were indicted in the circuit court of St. Clair county for the murder of James Crossett on November 20, 1920. They were tried, found [300 Ill. 423]guilty, and sentenced, Titsworth to imprisonment in the penitentiary for life, and Lane to death. The latter has sued out a writ of error.

The only reason assigned for the reversal of the judgment which has been argued is the erroneous admission of evidence relating to other crimes alleged to have been committed by the defendants. The defendants were arrested on Christmas Eve, about a month after Crossett was murdered. They were examined by the police officers and made oral statements, in which they admitted not only that they had killed Crossett, but also that they had committed one or more other murders and several highway robberies. Each of the defendants also signed a written statement admitting the murder of Crossett. On the trial these statements, oral and written were offered in evidence by the prosecution, and the parts relating to other crimes were objected to by the defendants. Some of their objections were sustained, but many of them were overruled, and the statements of the defendants confessing their guilt of another murder and of highway robberies, as well as the murder for which they were indicted, were admitted. These other crimes were not connected in any way with the charge in the indictment. They were committed at other times and different places and were irrelevant to the issue and incompetent to be shown on the trial of this charge. The rule is that on a trial of a charge of crime evidence of a distinct and substantive offense cannot be admitted, and this rule is merely an application of the general rule that in all cases, civil or criminal, the evidence must be confined to the point in issue. The rule excludes all evidence of collateral facts which...

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27 practice notes
  • People v. Fretch, No. 2-15-1107
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • March 16, 2017
    ...evidence on intent: that intent be "at issue" in the case. This basic requirement has a long pedigree in Illinois. See People v. Lane , 300 Ill. 422, 424, 133 N.E. 267 (1921) ("[W]here the intent with which an alleged offense has been committed is a material element of the charge and become......
  • State v. Owen, No. 7853
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
    • January 27, 1953
    ...307 Pa. 134, 160 A. 602; Smith v. People, 32 Colo. 251, 75 P. 914; People v. Mangano, 375 Ill. 72, 30 N.E.2d 428; People v. Lane, 300 Ill. 422, 133 N.E. 267; People v. Heffernan, 312 Ill. 66, 143 N.E. Under circumstances where it is the duty of the court to fix the penalty, an inquiry into ......
  • State v. Folkes
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Oregon
    • June 20, 1944
    ...crimes deemed prejudicial where the jury fixed the penalty and may have been influenced by the inadmissible evidence. In People v. Lane, 300 Ill. 422, 133 N.E. 267, the defendant had been convicted of murder, and in his trial the prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence showing that ......
  • People v. Lampkin, No. 52676
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Illinois
    • November 10, 1983
    ...Oden [ (1960) ], 20 Ill.2d 470 [170 N.E.2d 582]; People v. Donaldson [ (1956) ], 8 Ill.2d 510 [134 N.E.2d 776]; People v. Lane [ (1921) ], 300 Ill. 422 [133 N.E. 267].) As a corollary to this rule, we have pointed out that the duty of the State's Attorney to safeguard the rights of all the ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
27 cases
  • People v. Fretch, No. 2-15-1107
    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • March 16, 2017
    ...evidence on intent: that intent be "at issue" in the case. This basic requirement has a long pedigree in Illinois. See People v. Lane , 300 Ill. 422, 424, 133 N.E. 267 (1921) ("[W]here the intent with which an alleged offense has been committed is a material element of the charge and become......
  • State v. Owen, No. 7853
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
    • January 27, 1953
    ...307 Pa. 134, 160 A. 602; Smith v. People, 32 Colo. 251, 75 P. 914; People v. Mangano, 375 Ill. 72, 30 N.E.2d 428; People v. Lane, 300 Ill. 422, 133 N.E. 267; People v. Heffernan, 312 Ill. 66, 143 N.E. Under circumstances where it is the duty of the court to fix the penalty, an inquiry into ......
  • State v. Folkes
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Oregon
    • June 20, 1944
    ...crimes deemed prejudicial where the jury fixed the penalty and may have been influenced by the inadmissible evidence. In People v. Lane, 300 Ill. 422, 133 N.E. 267, the defendant had been convicted of murder, and in his trial the prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence showing that ......
  • People v. Lampkin, No. 52676
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Illinois
    • November 10, 1983
    ...Oden [ (1960) ], 20 Ill.2d 470 [170 N.E.2d 582]; People v. Donaldson [ (1956) ], 8 Ill.2d 510 [134 N.E.2d 776]; People v. Lane [ (1921) ], 300 Ill. 422 [133 N.E. 267].) As a corollary to this rule, we have pointed out that the duty of the State's Attorney to safeguard the rights of all the ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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